Currently, when software is purchased there is no direct indication of the quality of the software. It is generally recognized that quality assurance is primarily a function of testing. However, software testing standards are not consistent. Some organizations like the International Organization for Standardization with their ISO 90003 standard, or the Software Engineering Institute with their Capability Maturity Model Integration measure the maturity of the software creation process of an organization but do not determine the testing done on a application basis. Others like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE 1044-1993) or the British Standard (BS 7925-2:1998), have direct standards for unit level testing only but still do not determine the testing actually performed on a application basis. Still other organizations like British Standards only govern testing terminology, per BS 7925-1.
Unfortunately, these existing standards do not provide a clear, concise indication to the public of exactly how much testing has been performed on a particular application. Thus, the public is left with only anecdotal measures of software quality.